NHRA Saturday: WJ Will Open His Winternationals Defense From The Sixth Position

Final Qualifying Results

Day/Date: Saturday, February 28, 2004
Event: 44th Annual NHRA Winternationals
Location: Pomona Raceway, Pomona, CA

Warren Johnson and the GM Performance Parts Grand Am Racing team completed a solid qualifying effort at the NHRA Winternationals by recording the quickest and fastest pass in the right lane during the final session at 6.784 seconds with a top speed of 204.11 mph.  

This followed Johnson's 6.770-second, 204.54 mph effort on Saturday morning, which qualified "The Professor" sixth for Sunday's final eliminations.  Having established a solid baseline from which the talented team can tune their race car, WJ turned his attention to defending his title at the traditional NHRA season-opener.

"By all indications, our run tonight was five thousandths off our run in the left hand lane this morning.  Realizing that there is more than a few thousandths between the two lanes tells us it was a better run.  Now it's up to us to keep finessing our GM Performance Parts Grand Am and come up with something for tomorrow.

"Lane choice will certainly be a factor tomorrow, so we will do our best to keep it throughout the day.  However, for the final round, Pomona Raceway can change into a right-hand lane race track, depending on the surface temperature and how much sunlight is on it.  We will have to keep an eye on it throughout the day, and try to pick the best lane at the right time.  

"We're in pretty good shape for tomorrow.  We've been slowly plodding along, moving in the right direction, and that's all that matters."